TIRANA (Reuters) – Brazilian Sylvinho has been appointed as the coach of the Albanian national team and has been tasked with securing qualification for the 2024 European Championship, the country’s football federation said on Monday.
“We have a great desire to do good work, bring positive results and take Albanian national team to the place it belongs,” Sylvinho, who most recently coached Corinthians, told reporters after signing an 18-month contract.
The 48-year-old, a former player with Arsenal and Barcelona, replaces Italian Edoardo Reja, who during his three-year tenure failed to guide the team into any major tournament.
“The contract is until the end of 2024 which shows that our main objective is to take part in the 2024 (Euros) and we have chances to reach that,” the head of the Albania’s soccer federation Armand Duka said.
Albania’s only appearance in a major event was at the 2016 Euros. They have been drawn in qualifying Group E with Poland, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands and Moldova for the 2024 tournament.
(Reporting by Florion Goga, writing by Fatos Bytyci, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
